Attack, attack, attack! We will outplay Chelsea bullies, insists Iniesta.
Barcelona’s Iniesta (right) does not appear to hold back as he gets stuck into Real’s Sergio Ramos at the weekend
Barcelona arrive in London this afternoon, back on the attack and again calling on the football world to unite against Chelsea’s suffocating system.
The purists in Pep Guardiola’s side, which includes just about everyone who lined up in the first leg against Chelsea in the Nou Camp last Tuesday, believe their devotion to the beautiful game will be their pass to the Champions League final in Rome.
Andres Iniesta, one half of Spain’s dynamic central midfield partnership with club-mate Xavi Hernandez, promises that they will attack all night in the return leg, just as they did in the goalless draw last week and as they did to devastating effect in the 6-2 mauling of Real Madrid in the Bernabeu on Saturday.
According to Iniesta, Chelsea will be beaten by the beautiful game at Stamford Bridge, taken apart by the fearsome front line of Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry, should the former Arsenal striker come through a fitness test.
‘We will be thinking, “Attack, attack, attack”. That is the Barcelona way,’ claimed Iniesta.‘Chelsea play football the way they want to, and they have had success that way. But we will not play their game.
‘It is hard to play beautiful football when the other team are not playing beautiful football themselves. We think beautiful football is the only way the game should be played. They play it very tough and have some tough players. I think the referee will need to have a good game so that we can play our flowing football.
'We can’t allow the way they approach a match to affect our approach. We will not compromise our system for any team in the world, and Chelsea are no different.’
It was hard-hitting stuff from a player who was shocked by Chelsea’s negative tactics last Tuesday, the Londoners sitting back at the Nou Camp and inviting Barcelona to attack them in a stifling 0-0 draw.
Bosingwa: Kept Messi quiet in first leg
Guardiola’s team are the guardians of free-flowing football, an advanced version of Arsenal’s young team, capable of slicing teams apart with their exquisite touches on the edge of the area.
They believe they can overcome Chelsea’s bully-boy tactics, finding a way past the
muscular presence of Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Michael Ballack in the centre of their midfield and then leaving it to their attacking trio to conjure their way past the Stamford Bridge defence.
Iniesta added: ‘I made it quite clear I was unhappy with the first leg. Chelsea had their game-plan and realised that the way to stop us was to hit us hard. If that’s what they want to do then that’s fine. ‘We will not stop playing the way we do because, quite simply, beautiful football is the only game we know. We pass quickly, play with style and a flow. That’s how it will need to be if we are to beat Chelsea.’
To do it they will inevitably turn to Messi, the world player of the year in waiting. He was subdued by Jose Bosingwa’s solid performance at left back last week, but he came alive again in the Bernabeu on Saturday evening, scoring twice against Real.
He showed flashes of his creative genius against Chelsea, but Iniesta believes one
moment of Messi magic can turn the tie in Barcelona’s favour tomorrow evening.
Iniesta said: ‘At the moment, all eyes are on Leo, and if he doesn’t have the best game of his life then people say so — and that is crazy when you consider what he has done this season.
‘He is the best player in the world and the pressure that comes with that will not get to him. He loves occasions like this because he can really lift his game.
‘With a player like Leo he doesn’t even need to have a good game to punish you. He can have one moment of genius and that’s a team finished before they even have time to understand what has happened.
‘Chelsea will try to keep him out of the way again, but that is not an easy thing to do, as many teams have found out this season.’
